AFL coaches united in declaring league-wide confusion after three-game tackling suspensions

The look of bewilderment on the faces of AFL coaches as they responded to two controversial suspensions was evidence of a game in crisis.

Toby Bedford’s tackle on Tim Taranto resulted in a three-game ban. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

AFL coaches have united over their “confusion” in how to coach players to tackle in the wake of three-week suspensions for Brisbane’s Charlie Cameron and GWS tagger Toby Bedford which three-time premiership winner Damien Hardick called “extreme”.

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan says he won’t change how he coaches his players to tackle “for the time being” despite the confusion around Cameron’s ban which Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said was testing the the “fabric of the game”.

Their stance came as Richmond coach Adem Yze declared he might seek help from the Melbourne Storm to find tackling techniques that won’t end with suspensions, while Collingwood increase tackling loads at training to adapt to what premiership coach Craig McRae called an evolving “grey” area.

Hardwick added his voice to the chorus of disapproval declaring he “couldn’t accept” their actions were worth three-week bans labelling them “extreme”.

Speaking on Thursday morning, ahead of Cameron’s appeal, Fagan said the outcry in the wake of the bans confirmed that confusion was the overwhelming feeling at clubland and decisions made in “an absolute split second” were being overly scrutinised by the match review officer and turned into “something bigger than it actually is”.

“I would just say that you can see by the reaction over the last 48, 72 hours that there’s a lot of confusion within playing ranks and within coaching ranks. Coaches, we don’t know how to coach it,” he said.

Could someone can explain to me what Charlie Cameron is supposed to do here to make this safer? Looks set for a big ban #AFLpic.twitter.com/QgDgIvR3dh

— Mark Gottlieb (@MarkGottlieb) July 15, 2024

“It’s difficult because we all sit there and watch the game … you watch a bloke, if he doesn’t go hard at the tackle or whatever, we’re critical of them. Tackle making and tackle breaking are incredibly important parts of our game and they happen in an absolute split second.

“And then we sit back with the benefit of slow motion replays and break it all down and turn it into something bigger than it actually is in my opinion. There’s a lot of pressure on players and I don’t want my blokes going out there second guessing tackles.”

Fagan said he wouldn’t be changing anything “for the time being” but conceded his hand could be forced.

“I don’t want my guys corralling and not putting the right amount of pressure on the opposition with the ball. So, for the time being, we won’t be changing anything,” he said.

“But what happened on the weekend is a little bit more of a shockwave I guess and we’ve got to sort of see how this all ends up and adjust our coaching going forward.”

"They are not robots."

Fair to say Robbo does not agree with the Toby Bedford suspension.

📺 Watch #AFL360 on Ch. 504 or stream via @kayosports: https://t.co/7kvglvpWSCpic.twitter.com/P5M2dgywlF

— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) July 15, 2024

The Tigers have lost midfield star Tim Taranto to concussion as a result of the Bedford tackle and Yze said he backed the AFL stance to protect the head.

But he said he would be keen to reach out to NRL coaches to help his players adjust to new demands that went against “the habits we had as kids”.

“We might have to look at getting NRL coaches in here to help us with our technique … they’re going through the same thing, they’re protecting the head,” he said.

“We’ve got a boxing coach that has done some martial arts, and he’s had a discussion with me this morning around some of that technique, and can we not drive and fall with them, can we drop our knees, all those sorts of things.

“We’ve got to look at all those avenues because we’ve got habits we’ve had as kids. It was all about pinning the arms and then taking to ground, and right now, if that’s going to be a risk, we need to change the way we think about it and the way we train it.

“We’ve just got to protect the head, and obviously Tim’s going to miss a game. Whether the sanction is too big or not the right sanction (is a question), but the fact he hit his head and Tim’s going to miss a game, you get where they’re coming from.”

Collingwood coach McRae said the Magpies had deliberately increased tackling loads for their players at training this week “because we want to put ourselves in that position”.

“I think that the game’s evolving, and we just sort of adapt with the game. I think players are so much better now the way they tackle opponents, there’s less dumping,” he said.

“There’s always going to be grey, this game’s forever going to have grey ... these (suspensions) are just another example of grey that we watch and anticipate what the future could be.”

Can’t stand the way things are going in the @AFL with ridiculous 3 week sanctions for both Toby Bedford (on Taranto) & Charlie Cameron (on Duggan)

Both received a grading of careless, severe & high from the MRO, which is just not right.

1/2

— Jude Bolton (@Jude_Bolton) July 15, 2024

Melbourne mentor Goodwin, another premiership winning coach, said his staff had been teaching players for more than 12 months tackling techniques designed to protect the heads of their opponents and despite the events of this week his men were not “hesitant” to tackle.

“No I don’t think so. We’ll just train our players to tackle with intensity, with intent and protect the head as best you can. But you have to tackle, it’s an important part of the game,” he said.

“Clearly the fabric of the game in relation to the tackle is being tested to the highest level right now. The incidents we are seeing now are challenging in terms of what we coach and how to coach it.

“The tackle in 360 degree game is difficult, whether you are coming at spee from behind, coming from the front, coming from the side. We work hard at trying to protect the head in all types of tackles, clearly it’s not going away.

“If you cause concussion in any sense, you are going to be trouble. That’s what they are saying.”

Gold Coast coach Hardwick said he could understand suspensions when players were concussed as a result of tackles but in these circumstances he “can’t accept” three week bans.

“Something needs to change,” he said.”

“The game’s as hard as it’s ever been. What we do know with the current trend of concussions and the health and safety of players, it’s important that we do protect the head.

“What we’ve got to understand is that not every tackle is designed to bring about concussion of the player, and we do accept that accidents happen.

“I can be comfortable with the Charlie Cameron and Toby Bedford suspensions, but I’m not comfortable with the three weeks.

“If it’s a one-week penalty, we’re probably not having the conversation, We can accept that, but for players to miss three weeks for those sort of tackles is extreme.”